Good Beer Guide: number of breweries increases

We are constantly bombarded with bad news about the brewing and pub industryin the uk but the figures released today by the good beer guide would beg to differ. In the last 12 months there has been an increase of 187 new breweries, This brings the number of regularly brewed British beers to more than 5,200, that is a lot of beer to review.

Guide editor, Roger Protz, said: “There has been a boom in the growth of breweries over the last 12 months, resulting in a total of 1,147 breweries now producing beer in the UK — and with more breweries comes greater choice for the drinker and more opportunities to buy locally produced brews.”

the thing I love about all these new breweries is all the places they are showing up, there used to be a saying that went “you cant call yourself a town unless you have a pub” well I think many are taking that to heart because all the old abandoned industrial buildings of yesteryear apparently make very good brewing facilities. We’ve see a beer brewing pizzeria (Crate Brewery in London) to a transformed Dairy Farm (Malt Brewery in Prestwood, Buckinghamshire) and a converted school outbuilding (Old School Brewery in Warton Lancashire).

West Yorkshire has seen the most new breweries open followed closely by London, I for one welcome this new because the more beers there are the less likely I am to get bored.

“West Yorkshire has always been a strong area for beer, with Leeds, Bradford, Castleford, Halifax and Huddersfield, as well as many more smaller towns, boasting hundreds of fantastic real ale pubs,” said Roger. “In recent years numerous new breweries, such as Collingham, Big River and Brass Castle, have sprung up to supply the local demand.”